


Who Is That?

by MissJaneInTheSun



Category: Rizzoli & Isles
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-14
Updated: 2013-11-14
Packaged: 2017-12-26 13:21:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/966410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissJaneInTheSun/pseuds/MissJaneInTheSun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So, what if Theresa puts an idea into Angela's head about exactly what's going on in Jane's life, and then Angela puts that same idea into Jane's mind? Chaos and Rizzles ensues! (No established Rizzles at the start.) 4 chapters total. COMPLETE</p><p>Previously published on ffnet in a slightly more chaotic form.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_Some of the conversation that we didn't get see from the dinner with Frankie's ex, Theresa and her daughter Lilly, S2.07._

 

"Well, isn't this nice? My whole family here under one roof." Angela, who was in the kitchen, put down the plates she was holding and looked across into the dining room where her son and his former girlfriend, Theresa,  were finding themselves a seat. At the sideboard Dr Isles was sorting out something with which forks were to be used to set the table, while Jane was slouching a corner, nursing a beer. Angela’s gaze finally settled on the youngest of the group,

"Come here, Lilly, and help me set the table while the adults talk."

Lilly looked towards her mother who shooed her in the direction of Angela, "Go on, help your Grandmother."

At the word, 'grandmother' Angela smiled lovingly, first at Lilly, then at Frankie.

"Grandma Rizzoli," said Jane, looking up from her beer and narrowing her eyes at her mother. "I don't know why you like that so much. It makes you sound _old_."

"Shh, Jane," Maura shot a 'look' at Jane, who stared back, and shrugged, mouthing, "What?"

"Don't listen to your Aunty Jane, Lilly. I love being a grandmother. We're _all_ very excited to have you in our family and we look forward to getting to know you... aren't we, _Jane_?"

Jane didn't immediately say anything, but Maura spoke for her, telling Lilly that her Aunty Jane was, in fact, delighted to meet her.

Jane put down her drink and turned towards Maura opening her mouth to speak. This time, before Maura could shush her, Angela got in first, saying, "girls, girls. Please. I don't know what's got into you today, Jane. If everyone could take a seat and Lilly and I will get the food onto the table."

 -x-

Angela and Lilly carried the roast over, proudly holding one side each, and placing it in front of Frankie, who proceeded to carve.

"Ma's never let anyone but Pop cut the meat before," Jane leaned over and said to Maura, with a hint of shock, but also awe in her voice.

"Well, now Frankie's a father..."

"We don't know that, Maura," Jane pointed out. Then, under her breath,

"Maura, if one of us turned up pregnant would we get this sort of red-carpet treatment?"

"Knowing your mother as I do, then yes, I think we probably would."

"Urgh. Why do we need to _breed_ to make our mothers happy? I do not want to be my mother's grandchild making machine, sitting here thinking that carving the Thanksgiving turkey is the highlight of my year."

"Don't be harsh on your mother, Jane. It's a biological urge for some women to want to nurture young children."

Maura was interrupted by Lilly who had been walking around the table handing out plates, and was now beginning another round, this time with glasses, and naming each diner as she went:

"Grandma Angela," she said, and Mama Rizzoli beamed, reaching out to hold Lilly as she moved off. "Come back here, darling, and say that again."

Lilly laughed. "Granma Angela," and moved on, "Mummy, Frankie – Daddy. Aunty Jane, and.. who are you?"

"This is Maura, sweetie," explained Jane again, reaching her hand across and putting it on Maura's arm. You remember Maura from the day in the park, in her car."

There was a silence as probably everyone remembered the incident with some level of embarrassment.

"Maura is Jane's friend, Lilly," said Theresa. "Now finish up with the glasses." But Lilly wasn't ready to finish with Maura,

"Are you my aunty, too?"

"No, sweetie, I’m not."

"Oh, Maura," said Theresa. "Of course you can be her aunt."

"Well, to be fair, in order to be her aunt, we would need to know for sure that Lilly is your daughter, Frankie, and secondly I would need to be...

"Maura!" Angela almost shouted. "Lilly, darling, you can be part of this family, regardless of blood."

Lilly didn't seem fazed by Angela's outburst; she was much more focussed on Maura, reaching out to touch her hair as she spoke. "So, Maura, if you don't think you're my aunt, why are you here?"

"Lilly, sweetie," Jane said, reaching over to take the child's hand off Maura, "I think Maura would like it if you got her a drink to put in that glass - from the kitchen."

"No, Lilly – " at the sound of her mother's voice Lilly, turned her head to listen, " – go back to your seat and sit down and start your dinner, please. Angela and I will go into the kitchen and get everyone a drink. _Angela_?"

Angela stood up, with a puzzled look on her face, but followed Theresa into the kitchen, where she stood waiting to hear what Theresa would say, obviously aware that she had been dragged there for a purpose that was more than getting more wine. Theresa launched straight into her rant:

"This is pathetic. You need to talk to Jane, Angela."

Angela instantly straightened her posture defensively. "Theresa! Jane's just a bit protective of her family. That stuff about proving Lilly is Frankie's daughter, that's just – "

"I'm not talking about that. I know that Jane doesn't like me for some reason (she never has), but, but at least I don't go around pretending like you and she do."

"What. What's going on?"

"It's 2011, Angela. I'm not going to go telling Lilly that Maura and Jane are 'special friends' or some other euphemism. If Lilly is your granddaughter, then Maura is one of her aunts. I think we should be able to acknowledge what's going on, _especially_ in front of a child. I'm raising my child to be protected from your sorts of prejudices, _not_ from Jane and Maura. And, you know, maybe Jane would stop trying to be so 'protective' about what her family can and can't talk about or do, if there wasn't this giant elephant in the room that you're all trying to steer each other around!"

"I don't know _what_ you're talking about, Theresa. I love my kids. All I've _ever_ wanted from them is for them to be happy."

"Then maybe you should let Jane be who she is and stop trying to make her and Maura into people they're never going to be. The way you treat those two is pathetic. And the same for Frankie. He's a loyal, intelligent, loving man. He was all those things before he ever met Lilly; he doesn't need to be a father to get your respect."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm three-times your age, Theresa. I think I know how to raise children."

There was a pause. Theresa took a breath, looked at Angela, and her tone softened. "You really don't know what I'm talking about, do you?"

Angela cocked her head in way that suggested Theresa was right but didn't actually give any ground.

"Think about it, Angela. When was the last time Jane had dinner with a man _she_ invited? How often do she and Maura have dinner together? _Breakfast_ together?"

"You mean, Jane and Maura...?"

“Hm mm.”

“But, my Janey, she’s not – “

_“Breakfast_ , Angela.”

Theresa raised her eyebrows, but didn't have time to say anymore, as Frankie burst into the room, "Come on you two! Bring in the drinks! We need to make a toast." He took the wine bottle out of Theresa’s hands and held his arms out, shepherding her into the dining room.

Angela was left alone in the kitchen, calling “but, Theresa, what am I meant to - ? A cake! Do people get cakes for - ?”

Theresa stopped walking and looked momentarily horrified as she turned back into the kitchen, "Nothing Angela. You do _nothing._ ” She reached out her hand to her daughter’s grandmother, who took it, and allowed herself to be lead. "Here we come, RIzzolis!"

-x-

"A toast," said Frankie, raising his glass in one hand and putting his other arm around the little girl who had climbed onto his lap.

"To family," said Theresa.

"Um, yeah. To family," joined Angela. "A family that tells each other everything, and doesn’t keep secrets, and - "

"For godsakes, Ma. Let us drink," interrupted Jane. "It's not that complicated. You just say, _To Family,_ and let us get on with the eating."

“Just because you don’t like talking, Jane, doesn’t mean I won’t find out things. If your father was here - ”

“Ma, please,” this time it was Frankie. “Let’s toast what we have and enjoy our meal. To family!”

Angela raised her glass along with her son, but the looks she was giving her daughter caused Jane to take a swig of her drink that emptied the glass in one mouthful.

“To family.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point the original story, which had been intended as a one shot, had a publishing break of around 2 years, until a tweet from Twitter!Jane suddenly let me know what happened next. Family drama is melting into farce. Rizzles is near.

The following morning at work Angela came to find Jane at her desk. She shifted from foot to foot, keeping arms length behind her daughter before finally stepping forward and clearing her throat,  

"Ah, honey, I was, um, darling..."

"Ma! What is it, Ma? I'm working. Also, you’re not even supposed to be in here," Jane hissed, under her breath without taking her eyes off the computer screen.

"I... um Jane. I've been talking to Theresa – "

"Oh, great.” Jane leant back in her chair and looked up to meet her mother’s face, “No, Ma. No. Not again. Don't lend her anything. Don't give her anything. Don't let in her into your house, Ma."

"It's nothing like that, Jane. We were talking and now I've been doing some thinking. And I might have been a bit weird last night, but I've been thinking and – "

"Ma. You're being weird _now_. What is it? Come on. No – don’t sit down. I'm meant to be working."

"Can I use your computer for a few minutes?"

"What? Of course not. Now go, before the others see you."

"Hello, Mrs Rizzoli," called Korsak from the other side of the room, standing up to come over, while Jane mouthed, "too late.”

"How nice to see you up here. How can we help?"

"Well, Sergeant Korsak, I was just trying to explain to Jane that my computer at home has been playing up and I wondered if, maybe if you all went out somewhere this afternoon I might be able to look something up on the internet here."

"Ma! Korsak, I was explaining that – "

"It's not strictly allowed, Mrs Rizzoli, but just this once. Jane and I will heading out with Frost to do some interviews about 2pm. How does that suit you?"

"Oh, that would be just perfect, Sergeant."

"Call me Vince. Please."

"Urgh." Jane made fake vomiting sounds under her breath. "I hate to interrupt, but I'm going to see Maura," she said, sliding out from behind her desk, leaving her mother and Korsak deep in conversation. As she left both the sergeant and her mother watched her. As soon as the door shut behind her Angela began to whisper, "Do you think that that's healthy behaviour, Sergeant? I mean is it 'sweet' or is it 'dependant'. I don't imagine Janey as the dependant type, but then until last night I didn't imagine, um..."

"Sorry, Angela. What are talking about?" Korsak turned to where Jane had just left, but saw nothing to help explain Angela's speech.

"About Jane and Maura, being, you know, too couple-y."

"I don't think either Jane or Maura need you to spend as much time worrying about them as you do. I think they're both capable women, Mrs Rizzoli."

"I'm glad you think so, Sergeant - Vince. But, do you mean, that you _know_? Am I the only one who didn't? Does she really not trust me that much? Oh my goodness – am I that much of a bad mother that my children would really keep something like that from me?"

"Know what?" Korsak looked puzzled. Just then his mobile rang, as did several other phones on desks throughout the office. He ushered Angela to a desk, typed a password into the computer there for her, and then grabbed his coat before he and Frost disappeared out the door.

Downstairs Jane was talking to Maura. She was just explaining how she was concerned that Theresa was getting 'her claws into my family again,' and that she was _definitely_ about to ask Angela for something, and probably something big, like a trailer to tow behind that camry, when her own phone rang and she was off for the rest of the day.

-x-

The case began as missing person, with Jane interviewing a distraught mother and Korsak and Frost organising uniforms into a door-to-door, but quickly deteriorated into a murder with the discovery of a body in a nearby playground. Maura was called in and there was no time for further family gossip.

The sun was beginning to set, and the hum of traffic on a nearby freeway had dulled. Frost had taken the suspect – the child's father – back to the station. Maura had completed the autopsy and was back at the playground helping Jane, Korsak and the crime scene techs to finish processing the scene before nightfall. Despite the tragedy of the situation, they had a result and were on the downhill run now and the mood was lighter and less frantic.

"So, Korsak, my mother didn't happen to mention _why_ she was so keen to use a computer today?" Jane asked.

"No. And I didn't pry, Rizzoli."

"Korsak, you're a detective; you're meant to want to find out what's going on. Especially when someone is acting as oddly as my mother was this morning."

"Oh, what happened with you mother?" asked Maura as she walked toward the detectives from where she had been briefing the uniforms who were to keep an eye on the site overnight.

"I already told you Maur, in the lab – something to do with Theresa and needing a computer. Do you actually listen when I talk or do you just hear blah blah Maura blah blah blah?"

"Jane. That was uncalled for. Of course I listen." Maura looked at Jane beseechingly, with her lower lip in a pout.

"Could've fooled me," said Jane.

Korsak interrupted them by laughing: "your mother's certainly right about you two acting like a married couple, Jane."

"We do not!" said Jane and Maura in unison. But Korsak just kept laughing as he walked away.

-x-

"PFLAG!" Jane shouted as she barged into Maura's house later that night. "Where is my mother? Is she here?"

"No. She was out when I came in about twenty minutes ago. Are you alright, Jane?" Maura handed her friend a beer and steered her towards the couch where they both sat.

"Can you guess what my mother looked up on my computer this morning?" Without leaving a pause for an answer she continued, "Boston PFLAG."

Maura obviously didn't respond the way Jane had intended, because she said it again; "Boston PFLAG, Maura. Do you even know what that is?"

"I believe it stands for Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, it - "

"It means that my mother thinks I'm gay."

"Well more likely you than Frankie or Tommy considering things Tommy has said to me, and we have Lilly as evidence of Frankie's heterosexuality."

"This isn't a joke, Maura!"

"I'm sorry, Jane. I didn't realise I'd made a joke."

Jane, seemingly revved up and capable of ranting for much, much longer instead, took in a breath and paused. She turned her head so that she was looking directly into Maura's eyes. "It _was_ a joke, Maur. It was kinda funny. It was really funny actually." And as if to prove her point she burst out laughing. "Okay, so Frankie's not gay, based on Lilly as evidence. But I don't buy Tommy's attraction to you as evidence of his being straight; you're very attractive, Maur. I think him being attracted to you would be more likely seen as evidence of him having eyes."

This time Maura laughed, and reached out one hand to sit it on Jane's knee.

"If you're annoyed, then when Angela comes home, tell her," was Maura advice. "For now, let's eat so that we can get some sleep. We have an early start tomorrow. As soon as I knew it was going to be a late one at work I ordered something. And I thought that either you or Angela might be around and wish to join me so I have enough to share."

Just at that moment there was a rattle of keys in the lock and Angela Rizzoli came in.

"Oh my, oh, I'm sorry! Maura! Janey!"

"It's okay, Angela. Come in. Jane and I weren't doing anything; we were just getting dinner." Maura stood up off the couch and began to fuss with plates in the kitchen.

"What else _would_ we doing?" asked Jane, looking from her mother to Maura and then back again, as if daring her to answer.

Angela ignored that question and focused on the doctor's offer of food, "No thank you, Maura. I've eaten. It's very late, how come you two haven't? Was it that case that Vince had to rush off to? Oh, girls, it's too late to begin to cook now."

"Ma, ma! It's okay. Maura was explaining, when you came in, that she's ordered takeout for us, but, wait, hang on, _Vince_. You're on first name terms with Sergeant Korsak? When did this happen?"

"Plenty of time to talk about that later, Jane. If Maura was expecting you and she's organised food for the two of you, I'll be off to the guesthouse to, um, get out of your way and, um, to get some sleep. Good night."

They ate dinner in companionable silence. Maura with a glass of wine and Jane with another beer.

Afterwards Jane stood up to being washing the dishes. She clunked the china plates against the sink and Maura stood up to and came into the kitchen behind her,

"You're still thinking about Angela thinking you're gay, aren't you?"

"I can't help it, Maura." Jane let go of the plate and cloth and turned he head towards her friend. "It sounds okay to say, 'laugh about it and forget it,' but it's going to be embarrassing. It's going to be _really_ embarrassing to have Ma going around telling people that she thinks that I'm gay. I've spent thirty years telling people that I'm _not_ gay. I kind of need my friends and parents on my side with this one. I hate having people looking at me like I've been lying to them, or like there's something I should be telling them, or whatever it is that people who think I'm gay think when they see me."

"You don't want to have to argue with your mother and tell people that you're not gay?" Maura asked, putting her glass of wine down on the bench beside her, "Would it be easier then, to just prove her right?" She put her hands on Jane's hips and turned her away from the sink, so that they were facing one another. She titled her head to one side and looked into Jane's eyes, down to her lips and then back up again.

"Are you suggesting, Dr Isles, that we kiss in order to prove my mother right?"

"I imagine it would be a lot more pleasant than arguing with her," replied Maura.

Jane's response was a hearty, "really?" But neither of them pulled away from the other, or broke their gaze.

At last Jane said, "If I kiss you, that doesn't make my mother right."

"If you kissed me," said Maura, "I would hope that it hadn't a thing at all to do with your mother."

And then they did: they kissed, in Maura's kitchen for a very long time.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theresa told Angela that Jane and Maura are a couple, and Angela believed her (let's face it, the clues are there). Angela began to tell other people, which embarrassed Jane, but Maura pointed out that it would be more pleasant to for the two of them to kiss and prove Angela right than to go through the process of explaining that she has got it all wrong. Also, there was a murder (but if you're in it for the murder, probably best to stop reading now).

\- - - - -

"Maura. Stop." Jane put her hands on the doctor's shoulders and pushed her away. Maura, who had had her eyes closed, opened them and looked at the brunette. She kept her hands on either side of Jane's face and didn't let go or pull away. She held Jane's face tipped towards her and looked into her eyes,

"Did you not enjoy that?"

"That's hardly the point, Maura."

"So you don't think kissing me is going to successfully convince your mother you're gay?"

"No. I mean... I mean, Maura. This is pointless; I don't want Ma to think I'm gay."

"So, you're going to tell her that she's wrong, and that you're straight?"

Jane removed Maura's hands and moved into the kitchen to find herself another beer. "Is there a Plan B?"

"You mean some other way to tell your mother you're gay? I thought the beauty of this plan was that you wouldn't be required to articulate anything."

With the fridge door open and her back to her friend Jane asked, "What about you, Maur? Did you enjoy it?"

Instead of answering Maura asked Jane to bring her the bottle of wine that was on the counter. "Think about it," she said when Jane returned and was once more sitting beside her, "If your mother thinks you're gay, not only will you not have to have an awkward conversation with her about how she's wrong, she might stop hassling you for grandkids."

"I seriously doubt it. Remember her behaviour at the yard sale? Or the bunny pancakes the other day? My mother watches that right wing news guy – she's perfectly aware that gay marriage is legal in Massachusetts. And anyway, if you're part of this crazy, wacky plan that somehow is getting bigger and bigger by the minute, you'll never get a boyfriend or kids either, Maur."

"So you're going to tell your mother the truth, then?"

"Tell me what?" demanded Angela, coming in in her pyjamas, with toothbrush in hand.

Jane and Maura turned to look at her, Jane with a guilty look on her face, "Ma! What one earth are you doing?”

"I assumed you'd be asleep. I came to see if Maura had spare toothpaste. Now I've heard you talking about me and wondered if you had something to say to me? Something a mother might really like to hear from her child herself? You're my only daughter. I thought that we were close, and yet you've gone and kept something this big from me for how long?"

"How long? I, I don't know. I mean, what, Ma? I don't think you understand, Maura and I – "

"Maura and you. Yes I know, Jane; I have eyes and I know what I see. We really need to talk."

"For godsakes, Ma, not now, not here. It's the middle of the night. Get out!"

"Janey..."

"No, Ma! Get out. Get out!" Jane stood up and began ushering her mother back out towards the guest house, while Maura disappeared down the hallway only to reappear a minute later with a small white tube which she pressed into Angela's hands causing her to almost get pushed out the door with her in Jane's fury.

"Great," said Jane sinking back down onto sofa once she'd got her mother outside, Maura inside, and the door shut, "Now Ma thinks I'm gay, and that I'm some awful child keeping secrets from her."

-x-

Jane insisted on sleeping in the spare room. She'd never done that before. Maura stood to one side one while a seemingly harried Jane removed sheets from cupboards and took the pillows she liked from Maura's bed, and made up a place for herself at the other end of the hall.

In the morning Jane was still in a grey mood. She busied herself around the kitchen, spilling coffee and cereal and banging her knee against Maura's ridiculously shaped door knobs while muttering about how, "everyone knows now. My mother can't keep anything quiet. By the time I get to BPD there won't be a person there who isn't up on Ma's gossip, I..."

"Jane. You may want to see this." Maura was in the doorway, ready to leave and Jane hurried over. Out in the street, out the front of the guest house, was Angela, with Theresa and Lilly.

"Thank you so, so much, Mrs Rizzoli. It's some sort of miracle that you have today off, just when I needed a sitter so badly," Theresa was saying.

Maura looked pointedly at the scene in her front yard, and then at Jane.

"I'm ignoring it. I'm ignoring. I'm ignoring it," said Jane, reaching for her coat and walking out the door with her fingers in her ears.

-x-

A case involving a dead child was not something to return a smile to Jane Rizzoli's face. 

Korsak was handing out tasks and after sending Frost out to reinterview key witnesses to the details of the dead child's tumultuous family life, he left the two Rizzolis alone for second reading of the statements that had seemed inconsequential on first reading. 

"Korsak, come on, how is that fair?" Jane waved one hand towards her Sergeant and the other towards the door where Frost had just disappeared.

"Jane, you know if Frankie's going to be any good he has to learn from the best."

Jane harrumphed for bit longer, but eventually settled down with a coffee and pile of files.

"You okay?" she asked her brother after twenty minutes of silence.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"You heard any good gossip lately?"

"You trying to get me to talk about Theresa and Lilly, Jane?"

"No. Not at all."

"Good."

She turned towards him, "If you' re going to the vending machine, can you get me some of those little green chewy things?"

“Well I wasn’t planning on going just yet,” Frankie pointed at the pile of statements he hadn’t even opened yet. Jane gave him a look that included raised eyebrows Frankie was on his feet in an instant. "I'm sure that this is no way to treat either a colleague or a brother, Jane." 

When Frankie returned Jane was up from her desk and was over with Korsak.

"Why won't you let me go out with Frost, Sergeant?"

"You know perfectly well why, Jane. You have trouble controlling your temper in dead kid cases, and Frost is spending the morning with people who knew the family intimately."

"You mean you think I'm no good around kids? What have people been telling you?"

"Hey, Jane." Jane was now leaning forward menacingly and Korsak stood up and reached over his desk to put his hand on her shoulder. "See, you're upset over this case. I get it. And I know that the idea of children is a touchy one in your family at the moment."

Jane finally loosened her stance and sat down on the nearest chair. "So you have been talking to mother, haven't you?"

"Well your mother is very fine woman, Jane and I – "

"No! Sergeant, stop! Please, please, just remember if you're talking to my mother about our family not to take everything she says seriously."

-x-

"Bad news I'm afraid. Actually, I don't know; maybe it's good news." Maura handed Jane an envelope. Jane took it and looked across the autopsy table at the doctor as she opened it.

"The paternity tests," said Maura as Jane read the document in her hand. "Frankie isn't Lilly's biological father."

"Well who is?"

"How do you think that these tests work, Jane?"

"Sorry. Anyway, now what? If we tell Ma she'll be heartbroken that she's losing her 'first grandchild', but if don't then we have Theresa with us forever, not to mention Frankie going around thinking he's the biggest stud on earth for getting it on with Theresa O'Brien. Urgh."

"If your mother's going to be on the hunt for a grandchild again, then all the more reason to keep up the rouse from last night,"

"No, Maura."

"Sorry. I know. I just thought..."

"Stop talking, Maura."

"Then you're going to have to come clean, Jane."

-x-

"Ma, I have to talk to you about something."

Jane stood in the doorway of the guest house, with Maura at her side. She spoke softly, "Can you come up to the house?"

Angela nodded at the two younger women. "I'll just get Lilly set up with a snack and I'll be right over."

Once they were all seated in Maura's living room, with a drink poured by Jane. And then some cookies she jumped up to get from the kitchen, Jane finally spoke,

"I don't want to upset you, Ma, but I don't want to be lying to you either. And I think that you've got the wrong end of the stick over something kind of important. I... I..."

"I think what Jane is trying to say Angela, is that – "

" - Frankie isn't Lilly's father!" Jane dramatically pulled the test results from her pocket and thrust them in her mother's face.

"Jane!" said Angela and Maura in unison.

"Don't blame me," was Jane's reply. "I'm not the one going about getting all caught up in fraud. I said from the beginning that I didn't want her around."

"Jane, how could you say that?" Angela had apparently finished looking at the result and was looking back at her daughter, "Theresa is family, whatever some piece of paper does or doesn't tell me."

"No, she's not Ma. Read the test results properly."

"I think, Angela, that what Jane is trying to say – "

At that moment Theresa herself appeared at the door.

While Angela smiled at her warmly, Maura gestured for her to leave, "It's not a good time, Theresa; Jane and Angela are having a 'talk'."

"No, Theresa," corrected Jane in a haughty voice, which slowly faded during the rest of speech, "My mother and my best friend are having a talk about me, which is completely different thing. I don't think they know how much, how, how...terrified I've been of this..." And she burst into tears.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's what you missed: Theresa told Angela that Jane and Maura are a couple. Jane and Maura pretended to be a couple. Angela caught them and got mad at Jane for keeping the relationship secret. Results from the paternity test showed Lilly wasn't Frankie's child, but to keep the heat off them over having a child Maura and Jane decided not to tell – until Jane blurted it out to avoid using the L word. And this is it truly the end – there is no where left to go in this universe!

"What, Jane? Jane, what's wrong?"

Maura put her arms around the dark haired woman and pulled her close into a hug.

"Jane?" Theresa stepped forward, as if she too might put her arms around the detective, and Angela began calling,

"Janey, Janey, my baby." Maura attempted to shoo the two of them away with the wave of her hand. Angela protested until Maura more pointedly told her that she wasn't helping. Theresa smiled sympathetically at Maura and closed the door on her way out.

As Maura held Jane her sobs subsided.

"I'm sorry, Maur," she hiccoughed, as she tried to dry her eyes on her sleeves. "I don't know what came over me. Something to do with dead kids, or something."

"No Jane, it was to do with you failing to tell your mother you're not gay - and Theresa."

Jane pulled away from Maura, and sat down in the arm chair. Maura followed her, and sat on the nearby sofa, reaching out to take Jane's hands again.

"Don't! Don't hold onto me like that. You don't understand. It might only be a game for you, Maur, but I can't do it anymore, okay?" She shook her hands free and stood, walking across the room to where she'd left her coat.

"What? Jane! Don't go. Jane, I never... Don't go."

Jane stopped zipping her coat and turned back to look at Maura who was still sitting, but looking up expectantly.  
"I'm sorry, Jane. I wasn't meaning to make you uncomfortable with all this pretending to be gay business. Look, I'll go and find Angela now, and explain that the whole PFLAG thing is a mistake."

"No! No, Maura, don't do that."

"Jane. I want to. I'm your friend and I've obviously talked you into a situation that makes you feel uncomfortable. I made a mistake. I'm sorry."

"No. I mean you can't do that because... because it's not a mistake."

"What? You mean Frankie or Tommy – or, oh, Jane. Jane." Jane unzipped her coat and placed it back on the hook by the front door. She walked back to the sofa and sat next to Maura while Maura spoke. The ME took Jane's hands in her own again, and this time Jane didn't pull away. "Tell me."

"There's nothing to tell. Or I want to tell it so that it seems like nothing."

"Well, I'd like to hear, no matter how you tell it. But, here, before you say anything, let me get you a beer."

At last they were settled, side by side on the sofa, with a drink each. Maura had turned off the bright lights and the room was lit by just a few lamps. "Jane. You know I'm your best friend, right. You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to."

"It's too late for that, Maura. Seeing Theresa again has made it hard to ignore."

-x-

"She was something different, Maur. I'd never felt anything like that before. I mean before that I'd thought that being gay would be as emotionless as I found being straight to be. You know, I'd meet some girl, we'd kiss - and whatever - while I thought about who the Red Sox should field next round. But, Theresa... just being with her was something else, Maura. I found that we could talk for hours and hours and everything that I liked, she liked, and if there were things that she was interested in that I wasn't then I suddenly became fascinated by them. I started hassling Frankie to bring her home more often! When she had dinner with us I could sit and watch her eat; there was a way that the muscles in her forearm moved as she moved her arms that captivated me.

"I tried mentioning those muscles in Theresa's arm to my cousin, Rosa. I was just a rookie cop, too busy with work and proving myself – don't laugh, Maura! – and Rosa was my best friend that year. I thought that she would understand, or be excited with me. You know, like seeing some movie that your friends haven't seen yet and all you want to do is tell them about it, and when you do they get excited and they go and see it too and then you all talk about. But, Theresa turned out not to be like that. It was Rosa who pointed out to me that my obsession with Theresa was pretty 'gay', and the way she said it that was a really bad thing.

"All I could think was that what I felt for Theresa couldn't possibly be 'gay', because it felt too damn good. If only Rosa would hang out with Theresa for a bit then she'd realise that was I was feeling was totally understandable, and therefore not gay.

"Then, one evening my whole family was watching tv after dinner. Theresa was there. She and Frankie were sitting close. They had their arms around each other, and Theresa had her head on Frankie's shoulder. Suddenly it hit me that, yes, I would, if I had the chance, want to be where Frankie was, with Theresa leaning on my shoulder and my arm around her. The feeling was undoubtedly sexual and, as such, definitely 'gay'.

"So, you see, on one level, I kinda understood why Frankie would buy that girl a car. On the other I thought I might never forgive him for getting a chance that I didn't and then fucking it up so badly.

"What's worse. What really hurt was that Rosa told Frankie about my crush. And Frankie laughed, and called me... something I'm not gunna repeat - and pointed out - urgh, Maura, this bit is gross – remembering that this teenage, little-brother, Frankie I'm talking about – he told me that I didn't have the parts to do what Theresa really liked.

"You know, I used to think that I could go through my whole life just not really being straight or gay. I could be all about my career and interested in stuff that wasn't lovey-dovey and kids and urgh. I know this is Boston and that it's the 21st Century and all that, but I'm not Ellen or someone like that. I didn't want to have puppy episode and risk everything. All I could think was, what if things changed at BPD? That place is my life. And what would I be risking it for? For someone and something that might easily wander off with my brother and go creating families."

“Oh, Jane,” Maura reached over and put her arms around her best friend. “I never even guessed about Theresa.”

-x-

The next morning Jane was still asleep on Maura's couch as the ME made herself ready for work. Jane had woken briefly and uttered something about how she couldn't afford to miss work, but had then rolled over and gone back to sleep.

At BPD Maura went straight to the bullpen to let Korsak know that Jane wouldn't be in, and that if required she would provide a medical certificate. Korsak nodded and grinned in a way that caused Maura to step backwards,

"Are you okay, Sergeant? What's making you look at me like that? Don't you trust me, when it comes to Jane's health, because if you require I can organise for another physician to - "

"No, no, Dr Isles. I'm sure you have Jane's best interests at heart." And a that his smile dissolved into a coughing fit and Maura left for the morgue.

It was after 10am when Frankie came into the morgue. He was running and looking at his watch.

"Thanks for coming down, Frankie."

"Maura, I've only got minute, but what's wrong with Jane?"

"I was just about to make a pot of tea. Would you like to join me?" Maura began to peel back her latex gloves.  
"I don't really have time, Maura. I was just wanting to check that Janey was okay."

"Physically fine, but mentally... she's got a lot to think about right now."

Frankie, who had turned, already half back out the door after the first part of the diagnosis stopped and came back inside.

"What's wrong, Maura?" he asked, more quietly and with less fervour than his initial questioning.

"Nothing. Like I said, Jane is physically well, and I imagine will be back at work tomorrow, if not later today."

"You also said that she had a lot going on. What is it?" By now Maura had her back to Frankie and was adding water to a teapot on her desk. "Turn around and talk to me, Maura. She's my sister."

"I didn't call you down here to talk about Jane."

"Come on, Maura, it’s Jane I want to hear about."

"Okay. But first, look at this." Maura handed Frankie the envelope with the paternity test result in it. He did little more than glance over it before he was back to hounding Maura about his sister.

"I said I'd tell you about Jane. But you have to sit down, and you have to promise to keep things a secret until she tells you herself."

"She's not sick is she? Like something big like cancer?" Frankie's voice was getting faster again. "No, no you said she wasn't sick. Is it to do with work; she's transferred – or fired!"

"No. No. Calm down. Sit there," Maura handed the police officer a cup and directed him to a chair. She sat on a chair opposite him and for minute they both sipped their tea and said nothing.

"You sister came out to me last night, Frankie."

Frankie put his drink down on the glass table between them with a crisp knock.

"What? Did she kiss you or something?"

"No! What makes you think that? She simply told me."

"I feel like I should say something about being shocked, but I don't think that I really am. What about Ma? Does she know?"

"Sort of." Maura told Frankie about the 'plan.' Now Jane needs her chance to come out to her mother on her own terms, Angela needs to understand that she isn't a grandmother. I know that the Lilly thing is hard on you to, but – "

"No it's not."

"What do you mean? Theresa lied to you. It's perfectly normal to feel anger in a situation like that. You thought you were a father; that's a big thing."

"No I didn't, and no she didn't. We both lied. We never slept together, so there was never any chance that Lilly was biologically my child."

"Uh. Why did you do that?"

"Why do you think? I was a horny wanna-be Police Cadet, I was hardly going to go around telling everyone that my drop-dead gorgeous girlfriend appeared to be more interested in my sister. Which begs the questions, Maura; what are you hoping to get out of all this?"

"What do you mean, Frankie?"

"If this comedy of errors ended the way you wanted, what would you be getting out of it?"

"Exactly this: my best friend would be happy."

"That's what makes you happiest then? Jane being happy?"

"I guess it does."

"Maura, I don't want to be out of line here, but, are you attracted to Jane?"

"Frankie! That's irrelevant. Totally irrelevant. Jane is attracted to Theresa."

"Really? Theresa? I always thought that was just a joke."

"I'm not always good at social cues, but I believe that she did tell me that."

"Okay then," Frankie poured himself and Maura another cup from the tea pot and leaned forward conspiratorially, "I'm sure I can come up with an excuse for Korsak for why I'm needing to spend half my day in the morgue, so how do we get Theresa and Jane together then?"

-x-

"This is kind of weird," said Theresa at last.

"You don't say," laughed Jane.

"It's like we've been set up on a date," continued Theresa. "But that can't be right, as neither of us is single."

"What do you mean?" Jane, dressed in the nicer of her two Thursday shirts, looked out the window again, as if she still thought that someone else might be going to show up for this dinner at her apartment, then took another swig of her beer.

"Surely you're single, Theresa, or your plan to use Frankie as a way to weasel yourself back into my family isn't going to work very well."

"Jane Rizzoli! You are the one obsessed with your brother's sex life, not me! I'm a happily married woman. I'm just looking for a good, stable male role model for Lilly. Her biological father is not someone I want her being with, and I can't think of a better family for her to experience if we are going to be living here in Boston, far away from my own, than yours."

"You really like my family that much?"

"Of course I do, Jane. I always have. Why do you think I spent so much time over here in my teens? It wasn't for pimply Frankie, but for that feeling of family that cared about me, and having fun as a family and all that clichéd stuff."

"If you like them all that much, you're welcome to swap with me."

"You really don't know when you're onto a good thing do you, Jane Rizzoli?"

"And you really know how to make a girl feel like shit, Theresa O'Brien. I'll have you know that I have a boyfriend. Remember Casey Jones from school? Remember how much everyone thought he was really hot? Well it turns out that he likes me. He's in the army."

"Really, Jane? You have a boyfriend?"

"Are you jealous?"

"Are you twelve? No, like I said, I'm married now...and I thought that you were headed that way too. I'm not stupid, Jane. My wife reads Dorothy Snarker; I know tgtgt when I see it. A few times this week I've thought that you and Maura were about to leap on each other."

Jane opened her mouth and then shut it again. Then repeated the manoeuvre.

"Huh?" she said at last.

-x-

"This is the conversation that I had dreamed of having as a teenager," said Jane.

She and Theresa sat side by side on the couch, in a room lit only by candles. And, although it wasn't sexual, they held hands as they spoke. There were moments when they laughed as they admitted that teenage attraction with Theresa trapped under the arm of Frankie and Jane trapped under the gaze of her family, and then there was the bittersweet recognition of chances lost. Jane asked questions about coming out that she would have been afraid to ask a stranger or to ask in bright daylight.

"You honestly, truly believe that Maura likes me?" Jane asked once she was close to having had one-too-many.

"I do, Jane. I was confident enough that you were together that I told your mother. I wouldn't do that lightly."

"So what do I do now?"

"Ask her out, you idiot."

"I can't do that!"

"Why not? Just because you haven't asked a girl out before doesn't mean that you can't do it now. Look, I'll ring her, and invite her over, and then I'll leave and leave you two alone and you can tell her."

"I think we've proven this week that people should keep their butts out of other people's love lives."

"So you'll ring her and invite her over yourself." Theresa handed Jane her phone.

-x-

There was a feeling like she might not be able to breather properly, or that she might faint. Or vomit. Her hands were shaking. She had to sit down. The words she would say were running through her mind. Oh, Maura had been over here thousands of times. It wasn't even unusual for her to drop everything and come late at night like this. But, oh, what if Theresa had read the situation wrong? Okay, she'd been right about everything else, but what if she was wrong about this and Maura wasn't interested, and Jane fucked up the one thing that was really good about her life and, and, and! The doorbell rang. It was Maura.

"Maura, I thought it was going to be you! It was so weird to have just me and Theresa. I haven't spoken to her nicely since I joined BPD. We had exactly zero to talk about. Until she mentioned you."

Jane told Maura that she didn't want to practise kissing anymore. 

And she didn't want to pretend to be in a relationship with her. 

The reason being, that she wanted to do both those things for real. 

The look in Maura's eyes as Jane said that was something she knew that he would never forget. She had always thought of Maura as incredibly beautiful, but now there was a light (dear god, was she turning into some awful romantic poet?) shining from inside Maura that made everything about her glow and all that Jane could see in the room was Maura's face. Her shallow breathing turned to a deep rhythmic thumping in her stomach as she leant forward and kissed Maura Isles on the lips for real.

Maura kissed back and here at last was a way to get out of the past week's mess without any lying, and with lots more kissing.

"Just for the record, Maura. This is nothing to do with my mother. You and Theresa and your meddling, maybe, not Ma."

"And also for the record, this isn't practice or a cover?"

"This Maura, is the real thing."

-x-

Sunday dinner again. The end of one week, and the start of another. The extended Rizzoli family, complete with Maura, Theresa and Lilly, once again gathered in Maura's kitchen to enjoy Angela's cooking. There were a number of comments along the lines of, "what a week that was."

"I don't understand what everyone's problem is," said Angela, as she busied herself handing out plates and food to the crowd around her who were, it seemed, more interested in gossiping and drinking than in helping to get food to the table while it was still hot. "What happened this week?"

"Ma!" Jane put down her beer. "You don't remember? I came out to you, Frankie turned out not to be Lilly's biological Dad and – "

"Okay, okay. So Janey. You are gay?"

"Yes, Ma."

"And Frankie, you didn't really get Theresa pregnant?"

"No, Ma."

"And Maura, you and Jane, really are... you know?"

"In a relationship? Yes, Angela, we are."

"And Theresa and Lilly, you want to be part of my family?"

"As long as we're welcome, Angela."

"Then what's the big deal been then? Frankie, I've always known that Theresa didn't get pregnant to you; a mother can tell when her baby loses his virginity and you and Theresa, you were all talk, baby. And, Janey, Theresa tells me that you and Maura have been together for a long time. Really, you kids have been making a drama mountain out of a mole-hill this week. Sometimes I don't know what gets into you. If you want to be part of this family, stop talking, sit down, and eat."

THE END


End file.
